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Alaska Native Perspectives on Earth & Climate

RESOURCE	GRADE LEVEL	MEDIA TYPE
1964 Alaska Earthquake This video adapted from the Valdez Museum & Historical Archive, explores what happened during the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 through original footage, first-person accounts, and animations illustrating plate tectonics.	6-12	Video
Alaska Native Ways of Knowing In this media-rich lesson, students prepare classroom science fair projects that demonstrate the application of traditional knowledge to a scientific topic.	3-12	Lesson Plan
Alaska Tsunami In this video adapted from Alaska Sea Grant, discover why multiple tsunamis resulted from the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964.	6-12	Video
An Alaska Native Community Helps Seals This video from First Alaskans Institute spotlights the Alaska Native community of St. Paul and its hands-on commitment to care for the land and animals on which it depends.	3-12	Video
Arctic Climate Perspectives This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, describes how global climate change is affecting Barrow, Alaska.	6-9	Video
Arctic Climate System Learn how the Arctic is a part of a global climate system in this video segment adapted from the National Film Board of Canada.	6-12	Video
Building the Alaska Oil Pipeline This video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE tells the story of how environmentalists, Alaska Native peoples, and engineers concerned about the effects of permafrost challenged plans for the Alaska oil pipeline.	6-12	Video
Careers in Science In this media-rich lesson, students explore careers in science through profiles of Alaska Native scientists. They consider how traditional ways of knowing and Western approaches to science can complement each other and allow students to incorporate their own interests when considering careers in science.	6-12	Lesson Plan
Climate Change Impacts Alaska Glaciers This video adapted from KTOO takes a look at Earth's warming and cooling cycles and the current atypical trend of warming that is impacting the glaciers in Alaska's Inside Passage.	6-12	Video
Dolly Garza: A Tlingit and Haida Scientist In this interactive resource adapted from Raven Radio/KCAW, listen to biologist Dr. Dolly Garza as she explores the sea otter population of Sitka, Alaska, from the perspectives of her tribal heritage and her Western education.	3-12	Interactive
The Effects of Global Warming in Alaska In this media-rich lesson, students learn how global warming is changing the Alaskan environment and examine the consequences of climate change on the region's human and wildlife inhabitants.	6-12	Lesson Plan
Global Warming Threatens Caribou This video segment adapted from Arctic Mission presents the challenges faced by caribou herds unable to adapt to a warming climate.	6-12	Video
Global Warming Threatens Shishmaref In this video segment adapted from Spanner Films, visit the Alaska Native village of Shishmaref, and learn how an entire town may be forced to relocate because of warmer temperatures, melting sea ice, and coastal erosion.	6-12	Video
How the Arctic Ecosystem Might Change In this video segment adapted from the National Film Board of Canada, learn why the unique Arctic ecosystem may be replaced if global warming continues to melt sea ice.	6-12	Video
Hunters Navigate Warming Arctic In this video segment adapted from the National Film Board of Canada, learn how the Inuit people have used their traditional knowledge to understand and adapt to changes in their Arctic environment, particularly when hunting and navigating the landscape.	6-12	Video
Inuit Observations of Climate Change In this video adapted from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, an Inuit community collaborates with Western scientists studying climate change. Inuit observations are recorded and included in the data collection process, expanding the scientists' understanding of changes in the area.	6-12	Video
La'ona DeWilde: Environmental Biologist In this video profile produced for Teachers' Domain, meet La'ona DeWilde, an environmental biologist who integrates her Athabascan heritage and her Western scientific training to help remote Alaskan villages address environmental issues.	3-12	Video
Living from the Land and Sea In this video segment adapted from the Alaska Native Heritage Center, discover the connections between Alaska Native subsistence culture and the natural cycle of the seasons.	6-12	Video
Losing Permafrost in Alaska In this video segment adapted from Spanner Films, learn how Alaska Native communities that rely on hunting and fishing are threatened by rising temperatures and melting permafrost.	6-12	Video
Melting Permafrost In this video adapted from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, see melting permafrost and hear Alaska Native peoples and Western scientists discuss its impact on Inuit culture and resources.	6-12	Video
Oil Contaminants Hidden from View This video adapted from KTOO explores why the beaches of Latouche Island and Knight Island, Alaska, contain remnants of an oil spill and discusses its resulting impact on the Alutiiq community of Chenega Bay.	6-12	Video
Oil Contamination Affects Food Web This video adapted from KTOO explores the impact of oil contamination on the herring population of Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1999, 10 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill.	6-12	Video
On the Yukon River In this video segment adapted from the Yukon River Panel, visit fishing communities along the Yukon River and see how Alaska Native peoples exercise stewardship of salmon to ensure that it remains a central food source and cultural touchstone.	6-12	Video
People of the Arctic This video segment adapted from the National Film Board of Canada explores how the Inuit people have adapted their traditions and ways of life to changing environmental realities. The video features archival footage and interviews in Native languages.	3-12	Video
Richard Glenn: Iñupiaq Geologist In this interactive resource adapted from Raven Radio/KCAW, listen to Iñupiaq Eskimo and geologist Richard Glenn describe the complementary nature of Alaska Native ways of knowing and the methodology of Western science.	3-12	Interactive
Safeguarding Alaska's Waters In this interactive activity, learn about strategies used in Prince William Sound, Alaska, to help avoid oil spills and to identify and contain environmental contaminants. The activity features videos adapted from the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council, KTOO, and NOVA: "The Big Spill".	6-12	Interactive
Samoa Under Threat In this video segment adapted from Bullfrog Films, a local climatologist talks about the Pacific island of Samoa, which is under threat from an increasing number of intense storms possibly related to global warming.	6-12	Video
Sea Surface Temperature Explore the relationship between sea surface temperature (SST) and Earth's climate system, and consider the effects that changes in SST are having in the Arctic and beyond in this interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain featuring data and visualization from NOAA.	9-12	Interactive
Soil Microbes and Global Warming In this video adapted from KUAC-TV and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, discover how warmer winters in Alaska may cause soil microbes to release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.	6-12	Video
The Spirit of Subsistence Living In this video adapted from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska Native people of Chevak teach visitors about the beauty of Cup'ik culture and the spirit of the earth, sea, and animals.	6-12	Video
Steve MacLean: Conservationist In this video profile produced for Teachers' Domain, meet conservationist Steve MacLean, an Iñupiaq from Barrow, Alaska, who works to preserve the health of the Bering Sea ecosystem.	3-12	Video
Students Making a Difference This interactive activity features three video segments produced by students in Alaska that demonstrate fun and innovative ways to help protect the environment.	3-8	Interactive
Students Measure Changes in Lake Ice and Snow In this video adapted from KUAC-TV and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, students provide field measurements that researchers need in order to understand how lakes in Alaska are changing as a result of climate change.	6-12	Video
A Subsistence Culture Impacted by Climate Change This video adapted from the Arctic Athabaskan Council explains how warmer temperatures in the Arctic are transforming the ecosystem and threatening the subsistence culture of the Athabaskan people.	6-12	Video
Take Action for Nature and Your Community In this media-rich activity, students explore human relationships with the natural world, learn how both Alaska Native ways of knowing and Western science can be used to study and help the environment, and take action on a local environmental issue.	6-12	Self-paced Lesson
Taqulik Hepa: North Slope Natural Resources In this audio profile adapted from Raven Radio/KCAW, Alaska Native Taqulik Hepa, deputy director for the Department of Wildlife Management for the North Slope Borough, discusses resource management and subsistence living.	3-12	Interactive
An Unpredictable Environment In this video segment adapted from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Inuit observers describe how their traditional understanding of weather patterns is being challenged by unpredictable weather behaviors.	6-12	Video
Warmer Oceans Affect Food Web In this video adapted from KTOO, scientists discuss how ocean warming may be responsible for the decline in the seabird, seal, and sea lion populations of Prince William Sound, Alaska.	6-12	Video